The Real FIC

Normal On The Surface

"You're looking at the real FIC", FlipperPA Peregrine said. The location was not Indigo Sim. The crowd was not a bunch of avatars using a dance machine. No, it was East Central Philly, in a club owned by one of FlipperPA's friends in the real world. About ten Second Lifers were gathered in the real world, celebrating the real world nuptuals of FlipperPA and JennyFur Peregrine.

The scene was, on the surface, surprisingly normal. Flip and Jenn had not met in SL, in fact, they've known each other over half a decade. People were relaxing at the party, drinking, enjoying normal type conversation like music and what people do for a living. People danced, dressed up, videotaped, etc.

I did say "on the surface".

Take my conversation with Artillo. His wife and my girlfriend paired off, being both marginally SL-aware, while Artillo and I talked geek stuff, and yes, SL forum chatter. We were ten minutes into discussing our favorite love-to-hate posters, when Artillo's wife proclaims,

"You didn't tell me it was like playing with Barbies!"

Or take the fact that some of the folks I met were male and had female avatars. Talk about altercation of perception of a person!

Another oddity was discussing jobs. At few of us planned to shift our RL income from our current jobs to something more SL-centralized, and at least 1 of us already had. (I wish I could say it was me.) Two other were DJs. Collaborations were afoot, and yes, this leads us back into the topic:

The Real FIC

The FIC or "Feted Inner Core" was a term invented to describe the SL elite. They are the mean-spirited, anti-change "content barons" who are the big money makers and who conspire together to rule SL. Okay, so we do conspire to rule SL, but the rest is utter rubbish. The fact is that when you've been around SL long enough, you know who's got talent. Naturally, when you collaborate on projects, you will choose the talented people to approach. And it works the same in real life, just as many people have pointed out in the forums.

But cliques? Hardly. Someone like Torley is proof that you really just need to be nice to get in favor with the veteran players (and Bub Linden, for that matter!). But moreover, if you have an ounce of talent and apply yourself, not only will older players generally love talking with you and welcoming you to hang out, but they will respect you and want to work with you. I've had many occaisions where a random instant message in SL turns into a business collaboration. And speaking of www.fetedinnercore.com, that was a product of a gathering of Flip, myself, my gf, JennyFur, Maxx Monde, and Higbee Protagonist. Add alcohol, Marcos Fonzarelli's slick logo design, and a prodding by yours truly, and Flip registered the site.

Great mystery? Conspiracy? Bad attitude? Hardly. Though a few forum conspiracy theorists would disagree, the bottom line is the FIC is just people really enjoying Second Life. But oh! We have the Lindens in our pockets. Yes, yes we do. Fall in line or you shall be crushed by the Juggernaut which is the Feted Inner Core! BWAHAHAHAHAAHHA!!!! Shiny leads the way to victory!